By Ben Nicholson
October 3 – San Antonio’s MLS expansion bid campaign has slipped under the media radar in recent weeks. Las Vegas’ clamor for city backing and Sacramento’s joy at their on-field success and off-field visits from MLS reps have kept the formerly favored San Antonio bid relatively underrepresented. Perhaps unjustly as the bid appears to tick the appropriate boxes.
October 3 – UEFA have announced FDJ (Française des Jeux), a lottery with 33,000 points of sale in 12,000 towns and villages in France, as their first main national sponsor for the expanded Euro 2016 finals.
October 3 – UEFA have opened disciplinary proceedings against a number of Champions League clubs following crowd disturbances during this week’s series of matches. The games at Arsenal, Basle and Anderlecht are all being probed with sanctions to be announced on October16.
October 2 – The 188th Cryuff Court will open next week in Terrassa, Spain, the result of donations from the UEFA Charity Award, Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernández, and local partner CaixaBank.
By Mark Baber
October 2 – Whilst many stakeholders have supported Tuesday’s election of Amaju Pinnick as the new Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) president in the hope he will bring stability to Nigeria’s conflict-riven football administration, one of the losing candidates has claimed the election was bought and Chris Giwa has reiterated his message that it is he who remains the legitimate NFF President.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 2 – Brazilian World Cup star Hulk has given more details of the racist taunts he suffered last weekend when playing for Zenit St. Petersburg against Spartak Moscow.
October 2 – The Gambia’s two-year suspension for deliberately falsifying players’ ages has been lifted by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) following fresh elections that saw former Gambian sports minister Modou Lamin Kabba Bajo voted in as president of the Gambia Football Federation (GFF).
October 1 – Russian football showcased another weekend of crowd trouble after reports that Brazilian star Hulk was subjected to monkey chants in a Russian Premier League game, and fans at Rubin Kazan’s new stadium set fire to part of the stadium after a makeshift firework display.
October 1 – Greek football, beset by financial troubles and hooliganism, has suffered another setback after this coming weekend’s entire programme was suspended by the government, along with all other team sports, as a mark of respect following the death of a fan at a third division game.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
October 1 – Zvezdan Terzic (pictured), the general secretary of Red Star Belgrade, has called for an amendment to the country’s sports bill that would facilitate the potential privatisation of Serbian football clubs.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 1 – UEFA have been quick to respond to reports in Germany warning against the use of vanishing spray by saying it will continue to use the recent innovation to mark out defensive walls in its competitions.
October 1 – Despite Brazil witnessing how well goal-line technology worked at the World Cup the country is still reluctant to implement it domestically despite it being part of the tournament’s legacy.
By Mark Baber
October 1 – The Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) has a new president. Amaju Pinnick (pictured), chairman of the Delta State Sports Council and the the Delta State FA, was elected with a comprehensive victory after two rounds of voting, though the pathway to election yesterday was typical of the turmoil within Nigerian football.
By Ben Nicholson
October 1 – The MLS Players Union has released its annual review of salaries for each of the league’s players. The list reveals a league record in the form of Kaka’s impending $7.17 million to play for the new MLS team Orlando City SC, usurping David Beckham’s previous high salary mark by a rough half million.
By Alexander Krassimirov
September 30 – Bulgaria’s Levski Sofia can expect another serious sanction after further crowd disturbances by their supporters. The Ultras of the Bulgarian club again unveiled pro-racism banners during their derby against the champion Ludogorets at Georgi Asparuhov stadium last weekend.